I'm Not Invisible It's a Perception Filter
by The Sanguine Coloured Panther
Summary: Claude is the Doctor and the HRG just shot Rose...


_**Hello. I know as a rule I don't do A/Ns, but I couldn't help myself, seeing as there are a few things I need to say, firstly, I know there is no realistic way this could happen, but I always will want it to. Secondly, an apology for any OOCness, but it comes with the plot. I shall also not do accents 99% of the time, because I cannot do them while writing in any shape or form. And third, I know I should be finishing my other fic, but that is a slow and sometimes tedious process that I need a break from. Right, after all that on with the tale...which takes place in Heroes S1 (you should be able to work it out) and Dr Who S1 after the Doctor Dances.**_

_I'm not invisible, it's a perception filter._

Peter had a feeling of how his mentor, the invisible Claude Rains, would react to this, but he couldn't help himself, he had always been a sucker for a pretty lady in distress. Seeing as he knew exactly what this girl was going through and what would happen to her if he didn't interfere, he just had to swoop in and pick her up. He supposed it was partly the smile as well. She had a look like Claire, having seen a lot, but still able to find some good, at least enough to make a smile that radiant.

_She was standing in an alleyway, clearly having been chased by the Haitian and the Man in Horn Rimmed Glasses into her current position. Her eyes were wide as she tried to reason with them._

"_Look, I don't want no trouble, yeah? I'm just passing through, me and my mates. Let me get them, the Doctor can explain things." She smiled hesitantly, "Seriously though, you don't wanna take me, he gets pretty protective."_

"_We know what you are. We can help you if you come quietly." Bennet said smoothly. _

"_I ain't nothing special okay? You can't treat humans like this anyways! What d'you do with Jack?" She demanded. Her British accent was charming if a bit harsh. She reminded him of Claude._

"_Your companion was taken in for questioning. If you continue to resist we will have to take you in by force." The Haitian stepped forward smoothly, but the girl glared at him._

"_Try anything mate and I'll be slapping ya one." She raised her hand threateningly. The dark man faltered and looked towards Bennet, who got out his gun. Peter decided that was the time to act and, staying invisible, flew from the rooftop he was sitting on to pick up the girl. He was a bit slow and the bullet pierced her arm, causing her to cry out in pain as he swept her into the sky. Peter cursed as he remembered he could have stopped the bullet. Too late now, he thought, flying as fast as he could to the only place he could think of that would show her any mercy or sympathy. For some reason, instead of that leading him to Claire, or Nathan or even a hospital, he flew to Claude's rooftop._

"What the hell are you doing here Petrelli?" Claude snarled at him as he opened the door to the pigeon cages.

"I found this girl." He started.

Claude snorted. "Tale as old as time, that one. Why you here then? Want some manly advice?"

"I need your help. The company shot her and I couldn't completely stop the bullet. It got her arm." he pleaded. A half truth wasn't too bad, he decided. Claude turned around, and as his icy blue eyes fell on the moaning form in Peter's arms, they softened and his face paled.

"What did you say? The company did this?" He demanded, taking her into himself and striding away into the greenhouse.

"Yeah, they wanted to take her away but she resisted. Said she'd slap them and so Bennet shot her." Peter paused.

"Same old Rose. Got that Tyler spirit in spades. Always said it'd get her killed." He stroked her cheek softly, the constant frown for once gone from his face.

"Sorry, do you know her?" Peter asked he knew it was stupid but his curiosity at Claude being gentle was overpowering.

"Rose Tyler, 19, daughter of Jackie and Pete Tyler. Red bicycle when she was twelve. Risked the world to save her father's dying hand. Risked her life to save the world. Showed compassion to a dalek. Yeah, I know her." He smiled a soft, real smile, before straightening and turning to Peter, the blond girl still in his arms. "Right, to work we get. Where's the Captain?"

"Who?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, that's how he always introduces himself. I'd be worried if he didn't." Claude frowned in a more teasing manner than he had in twenty years.

"Rose said they took him. Well, she accused them of it anyway. Claude, what are you going to do?"

"First, my real name's the Doctor. Just that, the Doctor. Secondly I'm gonna find Jack Harkness from the middle of the Company. Then I'm gonna rescue Rose Tyler, and then just to finish up, I'm gonna wipe out every single branch of the godforsaken company in the world. You coming?" And with that he ran down the stairs, Peter following him closely.

"Doctor?" That's all it took. One faint little whisper from wounded blond girl to stop him in his tracks. By then they were in one of the few parks scattered around New York City, trying the get to a place where they could look after Rose. The Doctor, as Peter was now forcing himself to call him, was a fast walker when provoked and apparently knew where the Bennet's were living. As soon as that one word left Rose's lips, Claude stopped and laid her on a park bench, sitting up. She blearily opened her eyes and Claude- the Doctor, smiled insanely as she focussed on him.

"Rose! You're awake!" He exclaimed. Bit obviously, Peter thought.

"Yes I am. Congratulations, you can now point out the obvious." She teased him, and raised her arms to hug him but cringed in pain when she moved her injured arm. The Doctor immediately sat her back down and started to examine her wound while talking to her cheerfully.

"The pretty boy is Peter Petrelli. He saved your life from some old associates of mine. I know the hair is stupid, but don't judge him for it, he thinks it's cool." Peter would have protested but it made Rose laugh and he decided that whatever made those two happy he would go along with. Besides, he didn't want The Doctor to start throwing him off buildings again.

"Hi Peter. I'm Rose Tyler, but I'm sure the Doctor told you that. Were you the guy on the roof?"

"You saw me?" He was sure he had been invisible.

"Good little Rose! She has experience with perception filters. Our home is covered in one and I adapted it so it served as an invisibility of sorts. You picked it up because I used my brainwaves to make it, but the Haitian can't dull it down. Very useful. May need to teach Rose one. I have refined it somewhat in my twenty or so years here."

"Twenty years?" Rose asked. Peter was sure the Doctor had to be at least 40.

"Yeah, when I got propelled out of the TARDIS, my own ship! I landed in 1987. Worked for the company until 1999 until they tried to kill me for hiding people from them. Been homeless looking after alien pigeons ever since."

"Pigeons are nice, I like pigeons." Rose told him. He grinned.

"S'what I like about you Rose Tyler, always the cheerful approach."

"Funny, you never seemed the cheerful type." Peter added scornfully.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Peter, listen carefully, this is important; when you have been stuck on dead end planet for 20 years where you don't know anyone and can't go and see the people you do know, and the only thing left of your civilization is a blue box which is in the hands of two apes, fantastic or not, and you don't know whether you'll ever see them again, you tend to be a little grouchy."

"Besides," Rose added, "he's like that all the time."

As they continued walking to the nearest airport, Rose and Peter were having an argument over whether the Doctor was worse as Peter knew him or as Rose did.

"He threw me off a building!" Peter cried out.

"He blew up my job! And besides, I reckon he had a reason for it, and that he thought –correctly might I add- that you'd live, yeah?"

"Yeah, but...he's a jerk!"

"Oi! Say that to me face!" The Doctor spun around, glaring. Peter blanched and stepped back. Rose laughed and took the Doctor's hand in hers, squeezing it.

"No-one's said it that plainly in a while, I bet. Leave him alone, he's just sulking."

"Me or him?" He asked, jerking his thumb at Peter.

"Both." She laughed.

The Doctor gently shoved her not wounded arm. She grinned at him and shoved back.

"How are we paying for plane tickets?" Peter asked after a few more minutes. "I'm not sure I should ask my brother, and it's a bit late notice anyway."

Rose grinned at the Doctor. "Psychic Paper?"

"Maybe, or maybe we could try my account." He mused.

"Account. Like a bank account?" Rose asked quietly.

He gulped. "Yeah, I got one for before I was running from the company. They paid a lot, and I had my money from my account when I lived here a while ago transferred. Turned out to a lot, plus interest from the last ten or so years..." He trailed off at the look in Rose's eyes.

"Brilliant." She said. "But you need psychic paper to convince them to let you pay upfront. Airports are a tad strict about that."

Peter nodded. "I may be able to exert a little influence, but not much. I'm supposed to be missing."

"Not sure where I am at this point. It is 2007, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Never mind." Rose grinned at the Doctor. "Just checking I'm not meant to be dead."

"One time!" He growled teasingly.

"One year." She amended, leaning her head on his shoulder. Peter looked over at them and noticed Rose's arm was starting to bleed through his shirt sleeve again. He sighed and nodded to the Doctor, causing the other man's eyes to widen as he cursed silently. He knew there was nothing he could do about it now, seeing as his sonic broke a few years ago, so he shrugged off his coat and slung it over Rose's shoulders, half in concern for her shivering in the New York chill and half to cover up her blood, seeing as the airports would likely ignore a bleeding girl, an old guy with a beard and homeless guy clothes and a floppy haired missing kid. He paused in the street they were in and steered them into a store and shoved Peter towards the men's clothing section.

"Pick me up some clothes too, okay? I need to look after Rose." He ordered his arm around the said girl's shoulders. She smiled weakly up at him as he took her over to the girl's section.

"Really?" She asked.

"Just this once, whatever you want. I want you to be comfortable and we need to look good for the flight officials. Psychic paper works best with style." He winked.

"Is that why Jack's so good with it?" She wondered out loud, revelling in his thunderous expression. She laughed and, taking his hand, started to choose clothes.

With Rose dressed like a young First Lady, and him and Peter like her two body guards, they had no problem hailing a taxi to take them to the airport. She was smiling the whole time, with both the Doctor's and Peter's hands firmly in hers. It was Peter's job to keep an eye on her wounded arm, seeing as Rose would quickly get defensive if the Doctor was constantly looking down at her arm. Peter was rather good at checking wounds inconspicuously since his dying patients hated to be fussed over, apparently much like Rose. Every now and then the Doctor would shoot him a look as if to say, is she alright? Every time he would subtly nod back. He was suspicious that Rose hadn't noticed yet, but had a theory she was so drugged up on pain she wouldn't notice a pink elephant giving her a lap dance.

When the taxi pulled up at the airport, Peter started to feel the anxiety that the Doctor had before. Would they really just let them on with a bloody half-coherent girl being carried around by two older guys, neither looking their best with bedraggled hair. The Doctor handed Rose to Peter at this point, very reluctantly, and went into a bathroom. When he came out his hair was short cropped and his face shaven. He seemed years younger, and when Rose opened her eyes tiredly and saw him, her beam, tired though it was, took up her whole face and caused an identical one to appear on his face.

"Look like...my Doctor..." She mumbled before her eyes slipped shut. His grin melted off his face in a second and he slipped her into his arms, waving for Peter to go to the bathroom, giving him a razor and hairdresser's scissors.

"Go clean yourself up while I get tickets."

When the floppy haired pretty boy wandered away, the Doctor straightened up and, with a quick glance at his unconscious charge, walked towards the desk.

"Good afternoon sir, how may I help you?" The girl there said. She wasn't much older than Rose and he plastered on his most fatherly, protective smile.

"I need a flight to Texas. My niece is in a rather bad shape, and we have family there who can help."

The girl looked over her booth and gasped at Rose's pallor and lolling head.

"Of course sir, do you have I.D?"

He got out the psychic paper and handed it to her, frowning at Rose's groan as he moved. The girl behind the desk frowned with him until Peter rejoined them, standing loyally at his side.

"Doctor, is she alright?"

"Doctor Claude Rains, that's you?" The girl said. He nodded curtly while checking Rose's temperature and pulse.

"Tell her to charge the tickets to this account." He muttered, passing him a piece of paper. Peter passed it to the girl with a disarming smile and she blushed until she read it.

"Advisor to UNIT? Wow, that's... I mean, I'll get you your tickets right away." She started to type into her computer. "The next flight leaves in half an hour. Any baggage?"

"None. Is that first class?" He asked hurriedly.

"Of course. Follow me sir, I'll take you to your plane." She spun on her heel and started to lead them out. The Doctor thought of something.

_Hey Petrelli!_ With the boy's basket full of tricks he probably had mind reading somewhere.

"What?" Peter muttered, clearly confused, looking around. Bingo.

_It's me, pretty boy. You've picked up telepathy somewhere along the way. This should be useful for us to communicate._

"But you can't hear me." He whispered, almost inaudible.

_Don't need to. If it's really important you can whisper it. Beyond that, no talking._

They approached the plane and the girl left, leaving them free to talk all they wanted.

_One rule Petrelli; listen to me, coz you can't trust anything with the company. They might show you your brother and he'll either be working for them, or it's not him. Even Claire'll have ulterior motives. Remember that, and if you feel suspicious, poke around in their mind. And if you meet a dark haired American pretty boy who'll flirt with you, that's Jack. He's ours so keep 'im safe._

Right, this Doctor had a weird collection of friends. A blond with an attitude problem and a slapping hand, a flirting American and he himself was too weird to be true. Peter found himself fully expecting to wake up from this dream. The only thing that convinced him that this wasn't a dream was... well, nothing. His dreams usually were this messed up.

Rose woke and was very confused when she found herself in an alien environment. Not actually out-of-space alien though, that would have been normal. No, she was surrounded by humans all sitting in chairs in rows in a metal capsule sort of thing.

"Never flown before then?" A voice asked her. She jumped and turned to see Peter. Suddenly it all came rushing back. But how did he know... "I read minds. Still controlling it, sorry, can't help it." She nodded slowly and opened her mouth to say something. "He's gone to get some food." she frowned. Not being able to help it was one thing, but he could at least have the decency to ignore what she was thinking. "Sorry!" And although he was hearing and responding to her thoughts, he wasn't listening to them. Only one course of action.

"Urgh!" An aggravated cry of pain came from where the Doctor left his companions. He hurried back over, having finished his little talk with the air hostess.

"Rose?" He asked worriedly. Her bright and cheery face poked up over her seat and grinned at him.

"Just had to restrain Peter from getting too friendly." She told him. Peter moaned, clutching his cheek, but froze when he saw the Doctor's murderous expression.

"Mercy!" He pleaded, shrinking back. Rose laughed.

"He was reading my mind, Doctor. I didn't like it. I stopped him. No need for you to throw him out of the time vortex or anything." She grinned at him, her tongue showing between her teeth and he softened slightly, grinning back.

"There you go Petrelli, you may become the most powerful person on the planet, and still you'll get beaten by any Tyler woman."

"Trust him on that one," Rose added slyly, "he's been there."

The Doctor started to tickle her, eliciting squeals from her until her squirming affected her injured arm. She moaned in pain and curled up, falling into Peter's lap. The Doctor glared and lifted her into his arms, shifting Peter over one seat and sitting down himself. Rose nuzzled her head into the Doctor's shoulder and fell asleep, prompting a happy smile and his getting out a book to read. Peter sighed. He could not wait for this trip to be over.

Rose was still being held by the Doctor as they left the plane but this time she was awake. Peter had gone to get them some food, leaving them alone for the first time in, for him twenty years, for her, well...that was what was about to be revealed.

"How long was it for you?" He asked carefully. Tears welled up in her eyes quickly and while he inwardly admonished himself, he pulled her tighter into their hug.

"About, a day? I don't know, Jack was going crazy trying to get her to bring us back, and then she insisted on bringing us here, and I was so worried, but I had no idea how long it had been, twenty years, and oh my god I'm so _sorry_."

On the last word she broke out into tears, sobbing on his shoulder. Oddly, he felt better about being abandoned for twenty years now he realised how bad she felt over it. It may have made him a bad person, but he was infinitely grateful she hadn't spent the whole time shagging Jack. When he saw a bit of blood drip onto her shirt- adding to the already ridiculous amount she had lost recently- he lifted her chin. She was biting her lip so she wouldn't make noise as she cried. He felt like a bastard now. He wiped away the blood with his finger and cupped her cheek.

"It's alright, you can cry. No-one is gonna begrudge you that, certainly not me."

She shook her head. "You don't do domestic."

"You've been shot Rose." He said, trying to be honest and coming out blunt. "You are allowed to cry. I've been shot by Noah before and it hurt like bloody shit."

She grinned.

"What?" He asked.

Her grin grew.

"You're swearing." She told him.

"Astute observation Sherlock. What lead you to that conclusion?" He snarked back.

She grinned some more and was about to reply when Peter rejoined them.

"I got us a taxi. It'll be here in a minute. We had better wait outside." He handed Rose and the Doctor a takeaway tea and Rose a block of chocolate. "Does wonders for pain." He said with a smile. She giggled and took a long drink. The Doctor sighed and picked Rose back up, carrying her outside.

"I can walk you know." She told him.

"Fantastic. But I've missed you." He countered.

She fell silent. He smiled at his win. He hadn't lied though, he really had missed her, and if Petrelli was reading his thoughts he was going to fry the kid before giving him to Jack to deal with.

Peter blanched.

Rose grinned as the Doctor threatened Peter.

"If you try tell me how good this girl actually is one more time, I'll throw you out."

"Sir?" The taxi driver hesitated. Never a good idea to anger a customer, but it really was a bit much to issue threats in his cab.

"Don't worry, he doesn't mean it." Rose assured the poor frightened man. She was having the time of her life today. Sure, she got shot and all, but she met up with the Doctor, got carried around by him everywhere, found out about and got to use his credit card, and she had a new friend in Peter. She didn't want the Doctor to kill him. "Do you?" She asked softly.

He turned to her. "But Rose...I know the kid, she's a brat! Her mum tried to blow me up!"

"No way!" Peter said. "Her dad, sure, but her mother?"

"She's adopted. Her 'dad' was my partner when we went to bag and tag her mum, and we found eeny weeny little Claire-bear just sitting there." He snorted. "Love at first sight for ol' Bennet. Didn't admit it to himself for ages, even when he shot me."

"Mr. Bennet shot you?" Peter repeated.

"I said so, didn't I? Ah, here we are." The Doctor- still holding Rose- stepped out of the motionless taxi and onto the street. Peter joined him. Rose looked around curiously.

"Nice place. Rather too nice." She said. The Doctor grinned.

"It's very PTA soccer mum, yeah. Come on. You'd better open the door Petrelli, don't want Claire-bear running away."

"Everyone's home." Peter noted. There sure were a lot of cars in the driveway.

After no-one answered the knocking, Peter shoulder bumped the door open.

"Hello?" He said, before his eyes landed on the collection of figures in the living room.

"Ah." The Doctor said. "Hello Noah."

Mr Bennet spun from where he was standing with Ted waiting for Matt and Claire to emerge from the study.

"Claude." His face drained of colour. "Peter."

"I'm Rose by the way. You didn't really ask before you shot me. Is there a place I can sit down?" She smiled brightly before sagging slightly. "You'd have no idea how annoying it is to be shot after getting kicked out of a big blue box."

Ted stared at her, then at the Doctor's worried face before dragging a comfortable chair over to her. Peter's mind was arrested by images of Ted's own dead wife, who had blonde hair.

"Thank you." Rose said before she was gently lowered into the chair.

Sandra recovered from her shock. "Can I get you anything? Assuming you aren't going to try and kill my family?"

Rose blinked. "God, no. And I won't let the Doctor try either. Peter just wouldn't, he's a big softie. A glass of water thanks, and maybe Jack."

"A first aid kit." The Doctor said firmly. "I can do some doctoring, and she won't know where they took Jack. Neither will the kid. Only chances are Noah, who's not gonna tell us, or Claire who would."

"Leave Claire out of this." Noah commanded. This was really getting ridiculous, all these old begrudged people threatening his family.

"Like you left Rose out? Just a young girl, a little bit older than your own blond daughter, wandering around the city with her friend, and you go and steal him from her, then have the bloody indecency to shoot her!" He cried out. Rose laid a hand on his.

"All we want is Jack." She said.

"Speak for yourself." He muttered in reply.

"Just tell them dad." Claire said, finally emerging from the study, Matt looking shaken behind her. He looked at Peter, who was bandaging Rose's arm with Sandra's first aid kit.

"You!"

Claire looked over. "Peter?" She asked.

"Hi Claire. Officer Parkman." He nodded and went back to his work. Rose ruffled his hair. "Get out of it Rose." he reprimanded gently.

"So cruel to me Peter, how shall I ever recover?" She sighed dramatically.

"She's suffering from Pretty Boy Withdrawal. S'why we need Jack back. He's willing to put up with it." The Doctor told Claire, Ted, Sandra and Matt perfectly seriously. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I'll take you there. But Claude?"

The Doctor turned to him. "Yeah?"

"Don't let Jack anywhere near Claire."

Rose laughed.

The novelty of getting locked up had long ago faded, but he had some fun with the pretty blond girl with sparky fingers that went past his cell.

_He whistled as she walked past in her prim little office girl getup. She turned with a gleeful smile and his heart panged. She was damaged, he could tell. Her eyes light up with delight._

"_Oh hello." She leant forward to get a closer look at him. "I'm Elle."_

"_Captain Jack Harkness at your service." he made a point of looking her over. She giggled._

"_What can you do?" She asked. He frowned. "I make energy." She rolled a ball of electrical current in her hands, which he watched curiously._

"_I...travel." he settled on._

_Her head cocked to one side and he grinned. "Time travel?" She asked._

"_Yep. Ever tried it? It's great. You should bust me outta here so we can go together." he slathered on the innuendo._

"_Sounds like fun, but I'll pass. Daddy would be mad. I have to go now anyway. Bye Bye."She waved with another smile as she left._

He was bored. Plain and simple. A voice whispered from a neighbouring cell.

"Hey."

"Hey." He replied.

"I'm Knox."

"Captain Jack Harkness."

"Yeah, I heard." The voice laughed slightly. "You wanna help us break outta here?"

"Sure. Why not? What do you need me to do?"

"Oh I dunno. When something actually happens, you can help out. Til then, we just gotta wait."

"To steal a phrase-fantastic." He grumbled.

"Well, yeah, sorta." A familiar but slightly distorted voice informed him.

"Doctor?" He leapt to his feet.

"And me." Rose's voice was faint, barely there, but trying to hold on.

"Rose?" He frowned.

"An old friend shot her." The Doctor said, coming into view and pushing the guy who arrested Jack in front.

"You can break him out." he said. The man shook his head.

"No, I can't. I don't have level 5 access. Get Ted over here."

"How many people did you bring?" Jack asked. He saw a tired Rose looking happy in the Doctor's arms, a floppy haired pretty boy guarding a young blond teenager in a cheerleading outfit, the man who apparently shot Rose- who was surprisingly still alive, the man, not Rose- a rather cuddly looking worried guy and a scruffy guy with...glowing hands.

"Get her away." he said gruffly to the Doctor, gesturing to Rose. He nodded. Peter had told him quietly why he was so concerned about her, and he respected that.

"Peter is standing with Claire. Peter's the one who saved me, and Claire is Noah's daughter. Noah shot me by the way. That's Matt, he's trying to get back to his wife, and Ted, and he's radioactive. Oh and Peter and Matt can read minds, and Claire can heal, and the Doctor can now go completely invisible." Rose explained. "But Noah keeps on calling him Claude."

"He is Claude. I don't know what delusion you are under, but this man is Claude Rains and is a womanizing drunken thief with little to no respect." Noah snapped. Jack's grin turned filthy and Peter and Matt cringed from the mental images.

"Wow Doc, never knew you had it in you." He said.

"In my defence, that has always been true. Excepting the drunken womanizing bit." He replied.

"Yeah, that's Jack." Rose laughed and Ted smiled at the sound.

"Ted, burn out the controls." Noah told him.

"How?" He growled, his smile turning into a snarl.

"Burn bright, not hot." Noah snapped back. Ted was about to reply with a rude refusal when Rose spoke up.

"Please Ted." She asked quietly. "I want my family back."

Ted couldn't refuse that, and so, blew open the control panel. Jack pushed open his door and strolled out, taking Rose into his arms. He then proceeded to kiss her thoroughly.

"Good to see you too Captain." She giggled. The Doctor frowned and shook his head.

"Can we get going soon? Or do you want to snog everyone?"

"Doc, if you wanted a kiss, all you had to do is ask." Jack then kissed him and turned to the closest person, who was a bewildered Claire.

"No." Noah said with authority.

Claire sighed. Jack grinned. "Well in that case..." He turned to Peter. And frowned, looking him over.

"Is he my replacement?"

"Nah, he's some pretty boy who idolised me and I taught a few things. Then he saved Rose so we took him along with us." The Doctor grinned.

"Sounds like me, just a bit muddled." Jack grumbled. Rose laid her head in his neck.

"Oh hush. The Doctor was living here for twenty years without us you know. We're lucky he didn't forget us."

Jack whistled. "Twenty years? Sorry Doc, I tried to land closer."

"Yeah I know. Let's just get out of here."

They did manage to escape the building, but went back to the Bennet house with some paperwork to work something out, when Lyle hit Ted in the back of the head with a frying pan.

"Shit." Jack said, watching the man's hands start to glow. Ted turned to him.

"Get her out!" He shouted. Jack didn't waste a moment. He picked up Rose, who had been sitting on the floor with Mr. Muggles reading a magazine, and took Sandra by the hand, who grabbed Lyle and ran out.

"Get the Doctor!" Rose yelled at him. "You can't just leave him in there! Get him and get Matt. Peter and Claire can deal with it."

Jack nodded curtly before disappearing back inside. He pulled the Doctor away and grabbed both him and Matt by the collars before dragging them out. Peter glanced over at him.

"I'll get Claire." Jack said. Peter nodded and moved towards Noah, who shook his head.

"I need to tranquilize him. Get Claire out." Peter sighed but helped Jack carry out the struggling girl. As soon as they let her go outside she ran back in. Peter started after her, but Rose grabbed his arm and pulled him into a hug.

"Let her save her daddy." She said sadly. He stared before catching the Doctor's thoughts and nodded slowly.

They all watched as Claire emerged with her father, burnt until she was only just recognisable as a person. They all watched, even Thompson, as she grew back into herself, and her father covered her with his jacket.

Thompson was about to comment, but noticed Claude standing nearby. "Rains!" He called out. Claude turned. His hair was shorter than it had ever been before and he was wearing a leather jacket. He grinned, wrapping his arm around a pretty blond girl, and catching an equally grinning man by the arm before fading away.

Thompson shook his head and returned his attention to Claire and Noah.

Rose sat on her pink bed, staring at her equally pink wall. She picked up her pink blanket and wrapped herself in it. She continued staring at the pink wall.

"Rose?" Jack asked softly, before letting himself in.

She turned to him and smiled weakly. He hugged her. "Tell old Uncle Jack what's wrong, hey?"

She laughed, without much enthusiasm. "Uncle Jack?"

"Sounds friendly? No? Okay, but come, it's all good now, isn't it?" He pleaded. Nothing was worse than seeing Rose upset for most people. Some people got slapped when she was mad, others got picked on by him when she was sad, but when she was this upset, the Doctor usually got all quiet and worried and the whole TARDIS went silent with the depressed undertone. Jack knew it was Rose who kept the Doctor out of his depressive state, so when she didn't do it, he very quickly lapsed back.

"It's just...you know Peter? Your replacement?"

Jack nodded.

"I feel like we just abandoned them. Peter wasn't even meant to be there, we dragged him along. And Claire will be taken in now, and Matt and Ted. Ted was so nice to me and I don't even know why! It's all so messed up." She broke into sobs by the end. He hugged her closer and stroked her hair.

"It is very sad, but the Rose I know would be pissed, not crying. What's really wrong?"

She sighed. "The Doctor. We left him alone for two decades! What's wrong with us? And you're comforting me, not him! He's probably all alone now, just sitting there. And I can't even help because I'm crying so much." She wiped angrily at her tears. Jack grabbed her hand and held it in front of his face before giving it a lick. She blinked, her tears disappearing. His grin made the rest vanish.

"Good. Now go look after the poor fellow." He pushed her off the bed and out of the door. She gave him a cheery, if slightly watery, smile before scarpering off down the corridor. He noticed one of her walls changed to a window, showing a scene of a rooftop in a city. An American city by the looks of it. With pigeon coops and a greenhouse. He shook his head and stalked off to his own room to have a shower. With luck, he'd be able to get the stink of level 5 out of his clothes.

Rose cautiously tiptoed into the control room. No Doctor. He wasn't in the kitchen either, or the library, or the swimming pool, or the library with the swimming pool. Or the swimming pool with the kitchen. She sighed and flopped on the captain's chair, running her hand through her bloody hair. The TARDIS beeped and showed her a map on the screen. She peered closer. Two rooms were brightly illuminated. The Infirmary and...The Doctor's room? She pinched herself before she decided to listen to the good ship.

"Doctor? You in here?" she poked her head into the Infirmary first- no use skulking in his room if he was in here, he'd just get mad- and peered around.

"Rose?" His voice was faint, tired. She still couldn't see him.

"Where are you?" She asked to the air. His chuckle sounded from his room.

"Next door I think. Come in." His door opened by itself, or at least with the help of the TARDIS. She tiptoed in, not wanting to break anything. He chuckled distractedly again from his bed, where he was reading over some files. She noticed his callused hands trying to run through his now non-existent hair. She peeked over his shoulder and saw the file of...him. Claude Rains, the Invisible Man. She giggled as she saw his scruffy hair again. He looked over at her, with a suitably wounded expression.

"What?" He whined. She giggled again, causing him to smile. She pointed to his picture.

"You look funny." She told him. He frowned. Her giggles grew louder. He grabbed her and pulled her into a hug. She quietened.

"God, I've missed you Rose." He said roughly, his accent growing more pronounced.

She hugged him back. "Me too. Not for nearly as long, but the TARDIS isn't as fun with you around. No fun really. We were too busy trying to get you back." She said, her face buried in his new jumper.

"I think I had to be there. For the time lines, Peter needed someone to help him, and Noah needed someone to give him the nudge towards Claire. It was painful, but I lived. Good to be back though."


End file.
